Friday, April 27, 2012

Archie's Megaman #2 Review




























Today were going to look at the continuing adventures of the Blue Bomber in the second issue of Archie's Megaman comic. Since I already review issue 1, and the fact that this is kinda an origin story, I'm going to skip right to the comic. The story is about Megaman going to stop the first 3 Robot Masters, Bombman, Gutsman, and Cutman. During the course of this comic, Megaman feels conflicted about destroying other Robots. This eventually leads to him becoming more cold and distant after defeating both Bombman and Gutsman.
























Doctor Light and Roll start to worry about him. He starts to struggle during the fight with Cutman, and Roll gives him a pep talk. He then realizes that he has to do this, and continues his fight against Cutman and wins. The comic then ends with Dr. Wily preparing his fortress in case Megaman can beat the remaining 3 Robot Masters.

What drives the story is Megaman's morality. He is a kind person that volunteered to become a war machine in order to help people. He is going against his own nature, and it's killing him inside. However he eventually realizes that this is what he has to do, and becomes almost arrogant about it towards then end. This will become more apparent next issue, and come back to bite him in issue 9, 10, and 11.















However Megaman himself is not the only one effected by this. Dr. Light sees him as a son, and Roll sees him as a brother. It's rough for both of them seeing him becoming more, and more of a cold-hearted killing machine. We also get a mention of Blues while Megaman is fighting a Sniper Joe. Which makes me wonder if something similar to what's happening to Megaman happened to him 

The art this issue is also great, and this is an overall enjoyable book. It goes to show how a comic can be great for all ages. I highly recommend this comic. If you want to try it out I believe Archie is releasing the first issue for free during free comic book day which is coming up on March 5th, and if you like it the trade paperback has been released which contains the first story arc.

Rating: 4/5

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Comic Panel of the Week: Mole Man married to Aunt May












Proof that such a weird concept can actually be a pretty good story. (By the way this is from a Spider-Man newspaper strip that came out a little over a year ago)

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Scarlet Witch #1 Review







































Today were going to look at more X-men from the 90's. More specifically a spin-off of the character the Scarlet Witch. The Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff, is the daughter of Magneto. After Magneto used her powers to do evil she turned good, and eventually joined the Avengers. She has power of probability as well as the ability to use Magic. So let's check it out.

The comic opens with the planet Amazar being invaded by a wizard named Gargan. Gargan kidnaps the queen, and casts a spell on her. Afterwards he rips his face off to reveal the Scarlet Witch. It turns out that this was all a dream that Wanda was having. She calls her friend Agatha, and Agatha tells her that her dreams might be because of her fear of being controlled.



































The next day Wanda starts to train with the U.S. Agent, when the intruder alarm goes off. It's revealed to be Demon's looking for Wanda. The Agent, War Machine, and the other Avenger's are able to beat the demons. Wanda decides to go visit Agatha, because she fears that her nightmares might come true.When she meet's up with Agatha, she brings her to a crypt under an abandoned church. While down there the two get separated, and the comic ends with Wanda being attacked by someone called Master Pandemonium.

This comic isn't very good.The story's isn't very original, and the art is a very good example of bad 90's art. However the scenes with the Avenger's are pretty good. I don't recommend this but if you want to check it out it shouldn't be to hard to find.

Rating: 2/5

Friday, April 13, 2012

Two Of A Kind Review
















Two-face is probably the most interesting of Batman's villains. He is also one of the most sympathetic. A good example of this is today's comic. Actually it's short comic included in Batman Black and White, but It is also included in Batman Mad Love and Other Stories which is what I have. Before you read this I highly recommend you check out the amazing Fandub of the motion comic by LordJazor. In order to understand the comic better.The comic starts with Two Face narrating about a genius named Marilyn Crane. Marilyn was able to heal Two Face, and after some therapy he was Harvey Dent again.

The two started to date, but one day when shopping for wedding rings they are greeted by Marilyn's twin sister Madeline. They leave, and Marilyn apologizes for not telling Harvey about her Sister since she was worried it would "Ignite Two-Face's obsession with Duality." Later that night while Harvey is working, he is greeted by Madeline who is pretending to be Marilyn. He realizes this but eventually gives in to his desires, and he has an affair with Madeline.

Eventually he decides to stop fooling around with Madeline, who doesn't take it well, and storms out. He get's worried, and heads to Marilyn's apartment. However when he get's there he finds Marilyn who has been murdered. He doesn't know what to do but he know someone who does. So he takes some coal from the fire place, and burn's the left side of his face. He meet's Madeline on a dock, and shoots her. Then he waits for Batman to come, and take him back to where he belongs."With the rest of the crazy people."




















This is a great story. It has great character stuff, and really does make me feel sad for Two Face. It's probably one of my favorite Batman story, and Batman isn't even in it. The art and story is by Bruce Timm, who you may know from Batman the Animated Series. He does a great job as usual. Overall I definitely recommend this to any Batman fans.

Rating: 5/5

Friday, April 6, 2012

Ultimate Spider-Man Premiere Comic #1 Review







































If you've been following comic news you know a new Spider-Man cartoon started last Sunday. I have yet to see it, and I might not see it anytime soon because I do not have Disney XD. Also from what I have seen I'm not that interested. So far the previous cartoon, Spectacular Spider-Man looks better. But to be fair I'll have to wait until I watch it before I judge it. However I do have to say the new opening is not as good as Spectaculars. But that's not really a fair judgement since the Spectacular opening would have been hard to top. Anyway to advertise there new show marvel has released a comic, so let's check that out while I wait to see the show.

The comic opens with J. Jonah Jameson ranting about how much a menace Spider-man is on a big TV screen in the middle of New York. Apparently in this new show isn't just a newspaper but also TV station. We see Spider-Man swinging around town narrating about how different he is from all the other teenagers. He notices a police truck about to slam into a store, and stops it.















It turns out it was a ploy by a villain called Trapster. They fight for a bit, but Spider-man wins by using his web to cover the hole of the gun Trapster was firing. When Spidey is about to leave he is greeted by Nick Fury, who asks him if he wants to join S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to be a better hero. Spidey refuses his offer, and swings away. He get's to his school, and he is runs into Mary Jane who asks him why he is late. He tells her the bus broke down, and we are introduced to Harry Osborn, Flash Thompson, and Stan Lee who is the janitor at the school.

The school is attacked by three other super villains who were order by Norman Osborn to track down Spider-man. He quickly changes, and fights them until the police arrive. The three escape and Harry is hurt in the crossfire. Peter feels guilty about everything, and decides to become a part of S.H.I.E.L.D.  The comic ends with Nick Fury meeting him on the roof of S.H.I.E.L.D, and hoping he can "survive the experience."


















First off the art is great. This is mostly due to this being a screen capture comic, as in they took screen shots from the show and made a comic out of them. However even for a screen capture comic the panel layout looks natural, and well put together. The story is pretty good, and a lot is covered in 22 pages. Which I find ironic since a comic that I got for free has more story and content in it then a comic I would pay 2.99-6.99 for.

Now some problems. Spidey seems to have gotten some of Deadpool's characteristics. Such as the ability to break the fourth wall, and a bit of Pool-O-Vision. The Pool-O-Vision might be explained in the way the comic is laid out but still. Also I find this whole concept incredibly stupid for a Spider-Man show. What made Spider-Man unique was the fact that he was one of the first teenage super-heroes that didn't have a mentor teaching him how to be a hero. He had to learn from his mistakes, and because of that he developed more as a character. Anyway this is pretty good, and it's nice way to check out the series.

Rating: 3/5